Savoy Brown in Orlando: Simply the blues

Preview

All the hoopla about the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arrival was a reminder that British musicians of the 1960s helped America appreciate its own definitive music.

Singer-guitarist Kim Simmonds was part of the British Invasion, adding rock power to the influence of blues icons such as Muddy Waters in the London band Savoy Brown. Almost 50 years later, Simmonds and the current Savoy Brown lineup — drummer Garnet Grimm and bassist Pat DeSalvo — are still on the road.

On Saturday the band stops at the Friendly Confines (formerly McWells restaurant) in Orlando. Expect vintage gems such as "Train to Nowhere," off the band's definitive "Blue Matter" album (1969), mixed with traditional-style blues of the group's newly released "Goin' to the Delta."

As a teenager in London, Simmonds was mesmerized by the guitar sounds of Muddy Waters and was among the musicians who turned America's underground blues into a building block for British rock.

"It was like a religion, really, for a small amount of people," Simmonds said by phone from his home in upstate New York. "When I was 13 years old and I heard those guitar players, I said, 'This is the future of music.' When you're a young kid and want to make a mark in the world, you want to be part of the future."

Watching the Beatles in the early years, Simmonds saw the same emotion.

"There was a simplicity to it, at a time when a lot of music had started to get bigger," he said. "They just stood on stage with a small drum kit, a couple of guitars and sang. I was into blues, but I said, 'Wow, this is what I want to see, just a band that is simple and honest.' That's what the blues should be."

Simmonds, 66, often aims for simplicity in his music, whether it's songwriting, recording or performing. "Goin' to the Delta" was recorded in only a few days at a studio in Syracuse, not far from his home. The songwriting took almost a year, but he tried to keep that simple, too.

"I usually write in batches of seven or eight songs and one or two I'll keep," he said. "In the end, I'll have a dozen keepers and see how they stand up. Then, we recorded it very fast because you shouldn't be overthinking too much. Grab the moment, so it has that kind of spontaneous energy."

Fans pre-ordering the new album online at savoybrown.com will receive a bonus: a haiku composed by Simmonds.

Japanese poetry? That doesn't fit the image of a hard-edged bluesman, the kind willing to sell his soul to the devil at a dusty crossroads.

"On my Twitter, I write haikus and it strikes home with people," Simmonds says. "I think now that being a writer would have been a better way to have gone, really. I'm a bit of a loner, a bit on the shy side and I can write. I love reading, writing and I love poetry.

"That's one of the misconceptions about a lot of blues musicians. People think you're some kind of beer-swigging kind of guy and not particularly intellectual. If you're working in an '80s pop band, that's not the perception."

Next year, Simmonds will celebrate his 50th anniversary with Savoy Brown. Expect him to still be on the road, seeking the honesty that he heard 50 years ago.

"It's all about trying to keep your feet at that starting point, so you don't lose the thread," he says. "It's a question of trying to hold on to who you are. That's the most difficult thing, for me anyway.